‘Informing’ Pak prior to strikes an act of crime: Rahul slams Jaishankar
Cong leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday questioned the government for allegedly informing Pakistan “prior” to its scheduled airstrike on May 7 on the terror infrastructure in the neighbouring country and termed it as an act of crime.
“Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. The External Affairs Minister has publicly admitted that the government did it. Who authorised it? How many aircraft did the IAF lose as a result?,” Gandhi wrote on X. He also shared a 17-second clip of EAM S Jaishankar.
Two days ago, while talking to the media, the EAM said the government took a reasonable position after the armed forces achieved key goals by striking nine terror camps and had even sent a message to Pakistan at the start of operation.
“Since our key goals were achieved, I think we reasonably took the position, because even at the start of the operation, we had sent a message to Pakistan, saying we are striking at terrorist infrastructure and not military, so the military has an option of standing out and not interfering. They chose not to take that good advice,” he said.
He said Pakistan got badly hit on May 10 by the Indian Armed Forces and the extent of damage inflicted on them could be verified through satellite images. “So these pictures will tell you what a hit they took and the same people who were not willing to stand down on May 7 were willing to talk and stand down on May 10. It is very clear who wanted the cessation of firing,” the EAM said.
Meanwhile, the fact check unit of the Ministry of I&B invalidated the video shared by the Congress leaders as false and deceptive. “The social media post falsely implies from the EAM’s statement that India had informed Pakistan before the start of Operation Sindoor. EAM is being misquoted. Remain vigilant and avoid falling for deceptive information,” the PIB Fact Check unit posted on X.
During a briefing on May 11, Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai said he had contacted his Pakistani counterpart Major General Kashif Abdullah around 1.30 am on May 7 to inform him that India had struck nine terror camps across Pakistan as part of Operation Sindoor. “He responded with ‘wait’ for our military response,” Lt Gen Ghai said during the media briefing.
On May 10, DGMO Ghai was informed that the Pakistan DGMO wanted to speak over the hotline. “Later in the day, the two DGMOs finally spoke at 3.30 pm when Pakistan DGMO sought cessation of hostilities,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs said EAM S Jaishankar had said that “We had warned Pakistan at the start”, referring to the early phase after the commencement of Operation Sindoor
This is being falsely represented to suggest Pakistan was informed before the operation began. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out, the MEA said.
